1 2 3 4 In the future, will SIS have the capability to change the Demographic, Program Indicator, and Enrollment Data online? How soon may we start submitting Early Childhood Batch Files? Should students who come in for only speech services be reported in SIS? If a student attends an Early Childhood Center that is not located in the same District they would be attending if they were in Kindergarten, which is their Home School? No, the batch file will remain the only process for changing those data elements. Send an email with your test data to sispilot@isbe.net. Early childhood students who are parentally placed in a nonpublic school (e.g. private school, parochial school, homeschooled) are served under an Individualized Service Plan (ISP). These children should not be reported in SIS. Early childhood students who are enrolled in a public school district and are receiving itinerant speech services under an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) should be reported in SIS by the child s Home School.. 1
5 What is the Home RCDTS for students placed in other facilities for ESL services? 6 Are all the Districts participating in the pilot? No. 7 Can vendors submit test files? Yes, send your test files to sispilot@isbe.net 8 Did you say the pilot ends in May? Yes, the pilot will end May. 9 All Pre-K Students' FTE must equal 1.0. The type of You said Pre-K Students' FTE must equal 1.0, schedule the students attend will be collected in what if they only attend half a day? their Early Childhood Records. 10 11 12 If we have students who attend Pre-K for half a day and Kindergarten for the other half of the day, how do we submit both of their enrollments in ISBE SIS if the FTE must equal 1.0? Will there ever be Serving School Reports available from ISBE SIS? Did you say a combined file would be available to submit students' Demographic, Enrollment and Early Childhood Data all in one file? Early Childhood Students in this situation would be enrolled in Pre-K with a FTE of 1.0. We will check with ISBE. Yes, a combined file format will be available in the File Format Layout document for vendors. 2
13 14 What is the difference between the Home School and the Serving School? Is the data in the Early Childhood Record on ISBE SIS the same data we submit on the Early Intervention to Early Childhood Special Education Tracking Form? 15 How do we provide feedback? 16 17 18 Do we start using the Early Childhood Data Collection this year? What is the difference between a batch file and a file? What do we do if we have more than one grant and we are a Home School to some students with one grant and a Serving School to other students with different grant? Yes, it is the same data. Either call the ISBE Helpdesk and ask for the ISBE SIS Helpdesk or email sispilot@isbe.net The pilot is the beginning of the Early Childhood Data Collection, and the collection will be mandatory for the 2009 School Year. These are the same, a batch file means there are multiple student records in the file. 3
19 We currently have Pre-K Students enrolled with a.5 FTE, do we start enrolling them with a 1.0 FTE? 20 What kind of test data do we use for the pilot? 21 22 How will the collection of Early Childhood Data affect the other reports we currently submit? How long does it take to receive State IDs for students? Yes, all Pre-K Students must be enrolled with a 1.0 FTE. You may either email test data (not actual students) to sispilot@isbe.net or enroll your current Pre-K Students in ISBE SIS and notify us by email that the students are in the system. Eventually, some of the reports will be eliminated. If you are submitting a batch file, it is received, processed, and returned to your download link in SIS. The complete process time depends on the amount of files waiting to process before your file. If you are submitting a file to meet a deadline, please do not wait to submit your file until that day when the system's processing will be slowed by the multiple submissions of files. 23 Who assigns the State Student IDs? The ISBE SIS assigns the unique State Student IDs. 24 Do we keep the current IDs we created to keep track of our Early Childhood Students? If you would like to continue using those IDs, simply place the ID in the SAP ID field which is a field for users to place an additional ID for students that does not interfere with the State ID. 4
25 26 27 28 Currently under the System Listing there is not an Early Childhood Pilot system, is there going to be one? As a vendor, may I find out if any of my Districts are participating in the Early Childhood Pilot? If I have students this year who are age eligible for Kindergarten next year, can I get State IDs this year? If I use the combined file you were talking about, can I include my K-12 students in the same file? 29 How do you sign up for the training? 30 You said the training only allowed for two participants from each facility, what if we have more than three grants and have three participants we would like to attend the training? No, there is not an Early Childhood Pilot system listed in SIS. Please send us an email with a list of your Districts, and we will check if we are allowed to let you know that information. Yes, you can get State IDs this year for Pre-K Students from ISBE SIS if you have access to the system. Yes. The system will only accept submitted Early Childhood Data for students identified as Pre-K. The system will also reject any enrollments that have Early Childhood Data erroneously submitted for students not identified as Pre-K. The sign up will be posted on the ISBE SIS Webpage, and you may sign up electronically by noon March 21, 2008. We recommend you centralize your data collection to as few people as necessary in order to maintain data quality. If you still feel you need three people to attend the training, please contact the ISBE SIS Helpdesk and we will see if we are able to accommodate you. 5
31 32 33 34 35 What if we have an RCDTS Code with less than 15 digits? We are a daycare center with a grant, and we are not sure if we have an IWAS Account, how do we know if we do or not? Are the Pre-K Grade/Entry Level Codes still 13 and 14? How will the Early Childhood Data Collection affect my counts for students receiving Special Education Services at my facility that the District sends if they are the Home School? We are the Home School working with a small District and have a joint agreement, how do we determine who is the Home School? Please call the ISBE SIS Helpdesk and we will assist you with identifying the rest of your RCDTS Code. Any one who has applied for an Early Childhood Grant has an IWAS Account. If you are not certain what the account is, please check with your appropriate personnel first, then if needed call the ISBE Helpdesk and ask for the Early Childhood Education. ISBE consolidated the original codes of 13 and 14 to 14 only, however, if you have a system that still uses the 13 the system will accept that code and return a 13 in your file. The Grade/Entry Level Code 14 for Pre-K is the preferred code. Please call the ISBE Helpdesk and ask for the Early Childhood Education for any concerns you have with the Early Childhood Data Collection. 6
36 Do we have to use the students' legal names on their birth certificates? Yes, all student names must be their legal names. 7